Photosynthesis Fiesta    2014   

What happens when K -12 students study botany (the scientific study of plants) 
and then make art about what they’ve learned? 
A Photosynthesis Fiesta! 

We learned all about photosynthesis, plant types, & plant ecology. Then, students submitted proposals for our Walk-in-Painting.
We took the best ideas and combined them into our rough plan.
Once we had it all planned out, we submitted it to a contest through the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering... 
and we won! The Bright Idea Society Award for the second year in a row!!! 
This means that we get two free booths at the festival, funds to create the installation, media coverage, a bus, & acknowledgment from the City Council. Wow! 


We combined our butterfly garden into the study. Butterflies require nectar plants & host plants. We researched which were our local species of butterflies, and planted the plants they require. 
While attending a meeting with the League of Extraordinary Scientists & Engineers, I met Mike from ECOLIFE.
http://science-ing.org/
ECOLIFE donated a fantastic aquaponics tank to our school! Complete with grow lights and all the bells & whistles. So, we learned about how animals & plants can help each other to grow. It worked so well that we are now planning to develop an aquaponics pond next year. Thanks ECOLIFE!!


The garden club planted fall & winter vegetables. We found that these were mostly roots like carrots, onions  & potatoes.  However, we also got some leafy greens, like broccoli, collards, kale, chard & sweet peas.  Super Yummy!
Dr. Lipson came from SDSU and gave a presentation on his root experiments.
Picture
Dr. Lipson then facilitated a root experiment with the students that we called, The Root Rhapsody. 
In the experiment, we played with hydroponics. 
We used a series of mason jars filled with water for the plant to grow in. Each jar was identical, as was each plant. Oxygen was pumped in using fish pumps. 
A different  object was glued into each jar to see if the roots would move toward it, ignore it, or move away. Students collected data over several weeks. Objects included; a bone, a rusty nail, a battery, chalk & more. After the experiment, students analyzed their data, & drew conclusions. 
Later, several students learned about monocromatic painting, where you use only one color, but add black or white. They painted detailed pictures of each plant as data. 
Later, we suspended the roots in resin. These were both sculptures and collected data in the form of a specimen.  
We primed our canvases, and started adding sketches with some background colors. 
We created a chloroplast cave, which was where the audience would go to do photosynthesis as a paper puzzle. 
Students learned that the chloroplast contains thylakoids that look like piles of little green pan cakes. A stack is called a granum. Chlorophyll on their surface gives plants a green color and produces photosynthesis. 
Students also chose personal directions within botany to study. They were challenged to condense their essays into labeled illustrations that would be painted into the walls of the installation.
Subjects included: effects of acid rain, habitat of a single tree, carnivorous plants,   pros & cons genetically modified plants in agriculture,  how eastern medicine uses herbs, photosynthesis, pollinators & pollination, seedless reproduction, & much more. 
The main interactive element of the installation was that the audience was a photon of light. Audience would go into the Chloroplast Cave to transfer their energy into the bonds of sugar (photosynthesis) by cutting up a simple paper puzzle (of H2O & CO2) then taping them back together as sugar. In the process, an oxygen gets cut off. 
Then the audience brings the sugar into the installation (plant) and stores it as sugar in the giant sugar sculpture pit. Of course the waste oxygen is exhaled through a stoma (kind of like a tiny plant mouth).  We made a sculpture to symbolize the sugar. It was chicken wire with plaster over it. Then we painted it white and added layers of real sugar.
Mr. Satterfield worked with students to write poetry about botany and other students to create botany inspired abstract music. These students all worked together to record an amazing soundtrack. Click here to hear it.
Mrs. Koch guided an exterior mural that looked at botany in poetry & literature. 
Mrs. Elser helped students to research and illustrate a Spirit Forest on the back exterior two walls. Students learned about & illustrated trees from different spiritual paths. Each tree's story was added to its truck and mythical forest creatures were painted into the forest. 
City Farmers Nursery generously loaned our school a truckload of beautiful flowering plants to fill out the floor area of our installation. Click Here!
Elementary art students from the JCS, San Diego Learning Center not only painted details of the murals, but also studied & created pollinators. These were hung throughout the piece. Brandie Maddalena & Fin Turner were instrumental in accomplishing this.  
Because we won the Bright Idea Award, we were interviewed on Clear Channel Radio and broadcasted through multiple stations. A sixth grader named Maria revealed herself as a shinning star through her public speaking skills. Later, she was invited to speak at a private VIP lunch with San Diego's most rich & powerful as an audience, where she WOWed them again. Go Maria!

Then, we were invited to set up in the San Diego Children's Museum and do a televised interview on FOX News.
Several students came and this was super fun! 
A small army of students arrived at the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering at Petco Park...and that was good, because there was a nonstop flow of hundreds of people all day long. I estimate that a couple thousand passed through our humble artwork. 
Maria spoke for our school at the VIP Lunch. Attendees included San Diego's most amazing & powerful. Maria knocked em dead...again. This child has a bright future. 
At one point, I was honored to tour Sherri Lightner from San Diego City Council, along with Congress Woman Davis through the piece. We conversed about education the whole time despite multiple flashing cameras. 
A set of JCS students were invited to represent the school on the main stage.
Later in the month, we shared Photosynthesis Fiesta at the STEAM Connect event at Qualcomm Hall.  
Photosynthesis Fiesta may also be shown with elements of  Root Rhapsody through SDSU over the summer. 
We just confirmed to do a summer exhibit with Sam Lopez at the New Downtown San Diego Library!
Special thanks to:
(Click to check out sites)
ECOLIFE
Julian Charter School
City Farmers Nursery
Dr. Lipson & San Diego State University
The Bright Idea Society